Method of making garment-stays.



F. L. O. WADSWORTH.

METHOD OF MAKING GARMENT STAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 17, 1912. RENEWED new. 21, 1914.

Patented Jail. 5, 1915.

attorney THE NORRIS PETERS cu. PHUTdLITHQ. WASHINGTON. D c

n as

FRANK L.- O. WAD-SWORTH, OF SEWIGKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG-NOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE SPIRELLA COMPANY, OF MEAIDVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF MAKING GARMENT-STAYS.

1,123,822. Specification of Letters Patent. mm 19150 Application filed July 17, 1912, Serial No. 710,008. Renewed October 21, 1914. Serial No. 867,896.

To all whom it may concern: performed that in the finished stay all of Be it known that I, FRANK L. O. l/VADS- the crossings are twisted or set in the same WORTH, a resident of Sewickley, in the direction. The result is a stay which is concounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylslderably stiffer against fiatwise bending in Vania, have invented a new and useful Imboth directions than a similar stay having provement in Methods of Making Garmentno twist in the crossings; which, further, is Stays, of which the following is a specistiffer against bending in the fiatwise difi ti rection which produces a further twist in This invention relates to the manufacture the crossings or transverse portions in the of wire garment stays, and particularly to same direction in which they were already that form of stay which is made up of wire twisted, than against bending in the oppobent back and forth alternately in opposite site fiatwise direction; and which, finally, directions to form two series of oppositely is considerably more elastic and resilient disposed loops or eyes lying along the edges and, therefore, capable of being subjected of the stay and united by a series of intermeto shorter bends without permanent distordiate transverse portions or crossings lying tion than it otherwise would be. As a conat nearly right angles to the length of the sequence, a stay manufactured according to stay. In such stays the resistance to flatthis method can be made of smaller and wise bending is due almost entirely to the llghter wire than when made according to torsional stiffness of the transverse portions the old method, without rendering the stay or crossings, while the resistance to edgeunduly flexible, as well as possessing other wise bending is due almost entirely to the advantages which will be readily apprelateral stiffness, or the resistance to bendmated by those skilled in the art. ing of those portions of the wire which form In the accompanying drawings, Figures the edge loops. Usually such stays are sub- 1, 2 and 3 illustrate in plan, side and end jected to much more severe bending stresses vlews respectively one form of stay and my in a fiatwise direction than they are in an improved method of making same; and edgewise direction. It is, therefore, partic- Figs. 1 and 5 illustrate a mechanism which ularly important to form the stays in such I have devised for the more convenient cara manner that the torsional stiffness and rylng out of this improved method. resiliency of the crossing portions of the The stay shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is made wire may be as great as possible. up of wire of suitable size bent back and The particular objects of the invention are forth alternately in opposite directions to to provide a method of forming stays of form two series of oppositely disposed loops the character described whereby such stays or eyes 1, lying along the two edges of the are not only rendered stiffer in one fiatwise stay body and connected by transverse pordirection than in the other but also possess tions or crossings 2. The eyes or loops are an increased resiliency and increased ability preferably overlapped, so that when viewed to withstand short bends and avoid taking edgewise, as in Fig. 2, they present a permanent bends or sets, as compared with shingled appearance; but they may also such stays as heretofore constructed. be formed otherwise if desired. In making It is well known that when wire is subthis form of stay, or in making any correjected to twisting stresses suflicient to imspending form of stay, in accordance with part a permanent torsional set thereto, the my present inventlon each loop or eye of torsional resistance of the wire against a the stay is first formed at a very pronounced further twist in the same direction is greatly angle to the plane of the stay, (as shown at increased and the elastic limit or resiliency 3) and is then tilted or twisted as a whole of the wire is likewise increased. I take so as to bring it to the general plane of the advantage of this characteristic of wire and stay. This can be done by hand, each loop form the stays in a manner that each crossor eye being first formed out of the plane ing or transverse portion of the wire body of the stay by the aid of round-nosed pliers,

is twisted during the formation of the stay to a sufficient degree to impart a permanent set thereto,the twisting operation being so indicated at 4: in Fig. 3, and then turned down to the required position of parallelism with the previously formed loops either by the aid of. the same pliers or by grasping the end of the loop with a pair of flat nosed pliers. This operation imparts to each crossing portion 2 of the wire a twist or torsional set, the amount of which depends upon the angle at which the loop is first formed to the plane of the finished stay. The loops or eyes of the opposite edges are, of course, all rotated or twisted in the same direction so that the twist and the permanent set imparted thereby to the crossings is in the same direction in each crossing of v the finished stayas indicated by the arrows of Figs. 1 and 2.

In the second or twisting step of the operation it is possible to rotate each loop or eye beyond the plane of its final position, as shown at a, Fig. 2, so as to provide for recoil when the loop is released. If the angle of twist is properly controlled the recoil will be just sufficient to bring the twisted loop into a permanent set position parallel to the previously formed loops and thus produce a stay which Wlll be perfectly flat, that is, which has no tendency to tw1st or curl sidewise as it will when produced H inthe usual way.

While my improved method may, as above described, be carried out by hand, I prefer to employ a suitable mechanism for this purpose, such for example, as that illustrated in Figs. l and 5. In this mechanism,

the wire is fed at an angle to the plane of the formed stay, and as illustrated in the drawings, is fed substantially normal to the plane of the stay by suitable guide rollers 5, 5 The unformed portion of the wire is caught alternately by the reciprocating bending members 6 and 6 which come in ,endwise at an oblique angle and alternately from opposite sides, and which are provided on their ends with suitable notches or lips 7 for receiving the unformed part of the wire, carrying it across the width of the stay be- .ing formed and bending the same into a loop, standing substantially normal to the plane of the stay. These bending members may be reciprocated by any suitable mechanis'm, such for example as the oscillating levers 8, and 8*. During this movement the previously formed portion of the stay is I held clamped between an anvil or forming block 9 and vertically reciprocating pin blocks 10, 10 which are provided with pins 11 and 11, which engage and hold the previously formed loop or eye. lVe will assume that the pin block 10 is elevated and the pin block 10 is depressed to clamp the formedportion of the wire against the anvil 9, with the unformed part of the wire caught by the bending member 6. This member is then advanced in a straight line and carries the unformed part of the wire across the width of the stay to form a loop. When fully advanced, the member 6 is given a partial rotation in the direction of the arrow 1:2, Fig. 4, either by hand or by any suitable mechanism and thereby brings the loop portion last formed into the plane of the previously formed loop and in position under the forward pin in the elevated pin block 10. Said bender is then retracted and returned to its normal position and the pin block 10 descends and catches the newly formed loop on its forward pin 11. Immediately thereafter the pin block 11 rises and the pin block 10 is moved backward a distance equal to one-half the interval between the adjacent eyes so as to bring the depressed pins l1 opposite the position previously occupied by the depressed pins 11 (see Fig. 5). The opposite bending member 6 now advances, catches the unformed part of the wire and bends it back toward the opposite edge of the stay and forms another loop. Said loop will be standing substantially normal to the planes of the previously formed loops. The member 6 is then rotated in the direction of the arrow 12, Fig. 4, thereby bringing this newly formed loop portion into the plane of the previously formed loops and in position un der the forward pin 11 of pin block 10, when said member 6 is retracted and thrown back to its former position, after which the pin block 10 is lowered and catches the newly formed loop behind its forward pin 11, when the foregoing operations are repeated.

The bending members 6 and 6 can be rotated as above described by any suitable mechanism, the drawings merely showing diagrammatically such rotating mechanism as consisting of sleeve gears 14 in which the bending fingers 6 are splined so they can slide therein but must be rotated therewith and which gears 14 mesh with other gears 15 which will be intermittently rotated or oscillated back and forth by any suitable mechanism.

The principle of manufacture described can be applied to a stay for any desired form of loops or eyes and having any desired form of cross section, that is to say, the loops or eyes may be pear-shaped, U-shaped or of any other shape and they may be brought entirely into the plane of the stay to form a perfectly flat stay, or may be allowed to overlap and remain slightly tilted out of the plane of the stay, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5.

In every case, the efiect of tilting each loop or eye from the original position in which it is formed toward the plane of the stay is to impart a very considerable twist or torsional set to the transverse or crossing portion 2 of the stay. Consequently, these transverse or crossing portions will resist a tendency to twist or rotate them farther in the direction in which they are already twisted, more strongly than they resist a tendency to twist or rotate them in the opposite direction. The twists or torsional sets in all of the crossings, viewing the stay as a whole, run in the same direction. Consequently, the stay is much stiffer in one flatwise direction than it is in the other, so that by properly placing it in a garment, such as a corset, it is enabled to resist to a maximum the stresses to which such stays are normally subjected in use, while leaving it very flexible in the opposite direction. This initial twist or torsional set has the further effect of increasing the elasticity or resiliency of the wire in both directions and, as a consequence, the stay can be bent to very short radii of curvature without taking a permanent set or bend, and sharply recovers its original or normal form. Hence, the garment will retain its form much more effectively than with stays similarly constructed but having no initial twist or torsional set.

I am aware that it is not new to make a stay having the crossing portions twisted and given an initial set, but in the methods of manufacture heretofore employed, such twist has been imparted to the stay during the bending of the loops. My method differs from previous methods in that the bending operations and twisting operations are not simultaneous, but are successive, so that the amount of twist is entirely independent of the nature of the bending operation.

What I claim is 1. The method of forming garment stays, consisting in bending wire alternately back and forth to form a series of oppositely disposed loops or eyes, in a manner to form the plane of each loop or eye at an angle to the plane of the stay as a whole, and twisting or tilting each loop or eye as formed to bring the plane nearer to the plane of the stay as a whole.

2. The method of forming garment stays, consisting in bending wire alternately back and forth to form two series of oppositely disposed loops or eyes, in a manner to form the plane of each loop or eye in a plane at an angle to the plane of the stay as a whole, and then rotating or tilting said loops and bringing the same into the plane of the stay as a whole, all said loops or eyes being rotated in the same direction.

3. The method of forming wire garment stays, consisting in bending wire back and forth alternately in opposite directions and forming oppositely disposed loops or eyes, and then twisting the transverse or crossing portions of the stay to bring the planes of the loops or eyes into the general plane of the stay.

4. The method of forming garment stays consisting in bending wire alternately back and forth to form a series of oppositely disposed loops or eyes, in a manner to form each successive loop or eye with its plane at an angle to that of the preceding loop or eye, and tilting said loops or eyes to bring the same into the general plane of the stay as a whole.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

FRANK L. O. WADSWORTH.

Witnesses:

ELBERT L. HYDE, MARY E. CAHADY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatents,

Washington, D. G. 

